Baby Art | Hawaii Newborn Photographer

Posted on July 8, 2010

A few weeks ago I posted this maternity session.

Baby G has made his appearance!

His big sister is so proud of her little brother and since she had painted Mom's belly,

We thought she'd like to paint a picture of him!

He was a great little man to work with and

even gave me a few sweet little newborn smiles.

Thank you, for sharing him with me for a few hours!

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Families and Children | 1 Comment

My Little Buddy | Hawaii Baby Child Photographer

Posted on June 30, 2010

Remember this little one?

He's 8 and a half months old now

and just the CUTEST most adorable thing ever!

He is my cure for baby fever

since I get to play with him multiple times per week, too.

Doesn't he just make you go all gooey inside?!

Gotta love those babies

that are so good natured

you never know they are there…

except for their preciousness!

I'll miss you, little buddy!

Hurry home to Auntie!

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Families and Children | 1 Comment

52 Weeks of Nature – Week 26 | Hawaii Nature Newborn Photographer

Posted on June 27, 2010

What better way to celebrate

the halfway point of my

52 Weeks of Nature

Than to show you a few of the images

from yesterday and today.

I love Nature and I LOVE Newborns!

Put them together and I'm ecstatic!

Baby Oliver is my dear friend, Lisa's third boy

and an absolute joy to photograph!

We spent a gorgeous evening at the beach

(right after a torrential rainstorm)

with the goal of getting one image.

I was overjoyed to have gotten three!

Then today, we hiked to Likeke Falls

with baby and bowl.

Funny things people say to you when you are hiking with a big bowl:

"Wow! Were you doing laundry in the falls?!"

and

"Were you girls making poi or something?"

While we were getting baby set up,

about 40 people walked by and Oohed and Aahed

along with imparting random wisdom such as,

"Don't let that water splash on the Baby!"

Let me assure you,

No babies were ever in any danger during these shoots.

Safety is ALWAYS first on our mind.

But, Boy oh BOY was I happy to get these images!

These are images I've wanted to do for a while.

Thank goodness for photographer friends who have babies

and are willing to do almost anything!

Thanks, Lisa, for being my mentor and friend.

Filed Under 52 Weeks of Nature, Bellies and Babies, Families and Children, Landscapes | 1 Comment

11 hours old | Hawaii Newborn Photographer

Posted on June 14, 2010

Remember my dear friend, Lisa, that I've been photographing so much during her pregnancy?

Well, now you get to see lots of pictures of her brand new baby boy!!!

She had him this morning

AT HOME!

Girl, you rock my socks off!

Here he is at 11 hours old!

He is a squishy 8 lb 12 oz chunk of newborn baby love!

22 3/4 inches long and with a 14 inch head!

People, this is NOT a small baby!

But he is absolutely adorable and VERY loved

by his two big brothers!

Don't worry, you'll see a picture of them with him, as well….

Soon…..

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Families and Children | 4 Comments

Belly Art | Hawaii Maternity Photographer

Posted on June 8, 2010

This was such a fun maternity session!

I wasn't going to work on these until after the move

but I just had to share a few!

I can't wait for this little one to be born.

See you in about a week or so after I get settled in my new house!

Filed Under Bellies and Babies | 4 Comments

Underwater Dream | Hawaii Maternity Photographer

Posted on June 7, 2010

It has always been my dream to try Underwater Photography!

So when Lisa asked me to do some underwater maternity pictures for her

I jumped at the chance!

Let me preface this by saying that

Underwater Photography

is NOT easy!

For the photographer or the model.

Especially a 37 week pregnant model.

We had a wonderful time floating around the pools at Pupukea Beach Park, though

and it was definitely a learning experience for me.

So what did I learn?

I learned that if you are doing underwater photography that you NEED a dive belt.

Why, you ask? Because it's insanely hard to be trying to dive down to the bottom

when you (and the camera) float like a buoy,

then frame a shot, focus the shot and then take said shot.

The sad thing is I am a certified SCUBA diver and I SHOULD have known that.

Beating my head against the computer as I type!

I learned that you need to be SUPER confident in what your settings are

because there is no one handed change of settings

and no way to review your shots in the camera.

I learned that it's not as easy as it looks to get those half in/half out of the water shots!

People end up looking like Beetlejuice with itty bitty heads and large magnified bodies underwater.

It's a rather interesting effect though.

I am honored that Lisa asked me to do these for her

and that she trusted me to get at least one shot that was decent

even though I had never tried underwater photography before.

I'm pretty happy with the results and now wish I had $5000 to buy the underwater housing for my camera!

Anyone wanna donate to the fund?

Anyone?

Bueller? Bueller?

Is this thing on?

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Families and Children | 8 Comments

Apology | Hawaii Newborn Photographer

Posted on May 28, 2010

I feel like such an idiot. I've been wondering why I haven't had any contacts or inquiries through my site for a few weeks now. Why it took me this long to question it, I don't know. It's been quite a while since the last contact notice has hit my inbox.

So, today I decided to check my settings, etc. Lo and behold there it was! Somehow an incorrect email address was entered in as my contact email! That email account didn't even exist!

So for any of you out there who may have been trying to contact me, I sincerely apologize for my mistake! I promise I didn't ignore you! I just never got your inquiry!

I do hope that all y'all will forgive me for my stupidity and give me another chance!

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Families and Children, Landscapes, Military Life, Portraits, Think Pink | Leave a Comment

Beach Momma | Hawaii Maternity Photographer

Posted on May 27, 2010

My most willing subject…

EVER!

It does help that she is also a photographer.

I wanted to try some different processing and play with some textures

I like what they added to these images.

And my favourite of all of them!

Sometimes the simplest processing is the best.

All this needed was a little adjustment in Curves

and a blending layer.

I will be posting a little more about some simple processing tips

in a post next week.

Filed Under Bellies and Babies, Portraits | 4 Comments

Why I got started… | Hawaii Child Photographer

Posted on May 8, 2010

I am often asked how and why I got started as a photographer. I have always admired Nature and loved to capture it's beauty, such as I could with the 110 film camera or disposable cameras I had on hand. It wasn't until I had my first daughter that I started playing with digital photography. I started with a Fujifilm Finepix and started learning the basics of Shutter speed and Aperture. I would get lucky and get some good images of my daughter and her friends. Then, when my second daughter was born, I was introduced to Newborn and Child Photography by the very talented Lisa Hoang of Windwardskies and Simply Baby Photography when she photographed my then 10 day old and 20 month old. I was so impressed by how she captured them so well that it soon became my mission to learn more. A very good friend of mine was also interested in photography and we goaded each other on and pretty much had a camera in our hands at all times just practicing.

It became an obsession to be creative not only with light, but with my subjects, as well. Of course, who did I have to practice on at all times? My two daughters! I must say that they are not the easiest of subjects. They were faster than my camera! I had to upgrade because of the shutter lag(the time between pressing the button and the camera taking the picture) on my Fuji. So I upgraded to a Canon 40D. A whole new world was opened up to me then! The things that that camera would do that the Fuji just couldn't compete with! No longer did I miss pictures of my speedy girls ! I was able to play more with aperture and depth of field to separate subject and background.

I wanted to capture every moment of their lives especially since my husband is a Marine and was deployed for the first 6 1/2 months of Colleen's, my second daughter, life. I didn't want him to miss anything. Even after he came home, I was driven to document their lives to the best of my ability. I wanted to really capture their personality, their every expression and quirky gesture. (My daughter is gonna hate me for posting this one! )

I soon realized it wasn't only my own kids and family that I wanted to capture! Everywhere I turned was something I just had to capture. Childhood is so fleeting and so many things easily forgotten in the pace of today's family life.

Now, I love to capture those moments for other people like I have been capturing them for my own daughters, family and friends.

The laughter and the sweet moments…

The mischievous personalities…

And the private happy moments that should be remembered in times of strife.

On this Mother's Day, I wanted to show you my beautiful inspirations, my daughters. Without them, I may never have found my passion for Photography.

My incredibly smart and precocious soon-to-be Kindergartener, Elizabeth.

My very mischievous and persistent 3 year old, Colleen.

I only hope that they don't hate being in front of the camera as much as I do as they grow up! My passion for Photography comes second only to my passion for my family.